Chisaki's breath caught in her throat at the sight of the empty air below her. Her body had disappeared and she was hovering dizzyingly high in the air.

Panic struck through her in a paralyzing wave and sent her heart thudding away.

Her vision narrowed and the world began to blur. She could feel herself begin to shake.

Her body was gone.

Gone!

Everything was just gone!

No. Don't freeze up.

Breathe, she reminded herself.

She took a deep breath, or rather tried. Half way through an inhale it caught in her throat—

If she didn't have a body, she wouldn't have a mouth. She wouldn't have lungs. That's right. No body, no lungs, no air.

Oh god, she was going to suffocate!

Desperately, Chisaki began gasping for air, but nothing was going down. Her chest burned, as if someone had lit it on fire, and her throat was closing up in fear.

Help! She tried to scream, but she couldn't make a sound.

She had to let Sensei know that something was wrong. She had to get him to help! But even after all of her efforts, he gave no sign that he'd heard her.

Below her he was simply assessing the situation with a leisurely tilt of his head. His voice flitted around her with a chuckle of surprise.

"Well, I didn't think that she'd activate it that quickly. I was expecting to see at least a few failed attempts."
"Are you suggesting that she might be naturally gifted?" Kurogiri asked in polite curiosity.

Gifted? For fuck's sake she couldn't breath! She was dying!
Sensei just had that thoughtful look on his face as he titled his head and tested the words. "Not quite gifted. I'd say more akin to… predisposed. Seeing as she's never had a quirk before, it may have been easier for her to recognize the presence of one and activate it… Though she appears to have no control over it now that it is in use."
She wanted to scream. How could they both be treating this so casually? She needed help.

She tried to flail her arms, to reach for them.

Nothing happened and she cried out in anguish. Fuck!

Her head was beginning to spin and she was fighting just to keep her eyes open. Was this how she was going to die?

Ha. Well this was just fucking perfect then. Between this and the sewage villain, she seemed to be destined to suffocate to death.

"No matter the case, she's been up there long enough. Much longer and she'll be out of oxygen." Sensei said with a little chuckle.

Oh. So he knew she was suffocating? He'd been fine with letting her die like this?

Fuck.

She couldn't see straight anymore. The grayed out world was hazy and warping before her eyes. Chisaki vaguely thought that she saw Sensei raise a hand towards her. It was turning an odd shade of black as tendrils snaked across the skin. —She had to be hallucinating, Chisaki decided.. That's what happened when your brain didn't get oxygen, right? You saw things.— His morbid, glowing fingers were somehow growing longer and extending into the air, until they suddenly shot out in a flash; somehow finding her body and burrowing into her chest. They sucked something out, drawing the warmth from her, as if they were some sort of grotesque quirk absorbing straw.

Before Chisaki could question exactly what had happened, she was falling to her knees before Sensei's throne, gasping for air. Suddenly very much corporeal and it hurt. Her chest screamed, her knees and palms stung from their collision with the floor, and her head spun. Her vision swam, her eyes stung, and she felt like she was going to hurl.

No. Try your best to swallow it back down, she thought between her sharp breaths.

There was no fucking way that she was spewing her lunch across Sensei's feet.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, surprisingly unconcerned with her violent return to the physical world.

Chisaki swallowed down a retort with her next gulp of air. Was that really all he had to say after she'd nearly died?

"I-" Her lungs screamed after just one word and she was forced to pause to breathe. "I feel like shit." She gasped out.

Sensei's lips stretched into a grin. "Right. Well that's to be expected." He leaned forwards intently. "So was it worth it? How was the experience?"

Chisaki closed her eyes in exhaustion and clutched her head. The world had begun to spin and she couldn't pull her mind back into focus; it was still high on adrenaline and her thoughts were jumping around in a dizzying blurr. She sat back up gingerly, words tumbling from her lips weakly.

"It was terrifying, but… I'd like to try again. I'm certain that I just need to figure out how to control it… "

"Oh?" His tone shifted into that amused tilt and she could feel his eyes digging into her. "Aren't you afraid that you might be acting a little rashly?"

Was she acting rashly? The possibility hadn't even crossed her mind.

Perhaps he was right. Maybe she needed to slow down. It was clear from this disastrous first attempt that she had no control; and even less of the experience necessary to tackle something like this… But she'd just have to suffer through this. Sensei had given this quirk to her for a reason. There was no way she was wasting it!

Chisaki straightened her shoulders and forced her gaze upwards to fix Sensei's empty eye sockets with a determined look. "Perhaps. But I refuse to be scared off after just one failed attempt. I'm confident that I can do this!"

His teeth shone as his grin split wider.

"Beautiful." He sat back and propped his head on his hand, looking particularly satisfied. "You never cease to amaze me, Chisaki. That heart of yours is truly something to be treasured."

Her heart?

"Th-thank you, Sensei." She said with a confused smile of her own.

"Close your eyes. I'll return the quirk to you."

She did so and leaned forwards. His hand settled on her head again, and the familiar buzz filled her ears.

Then the fire was back, filling that empty space in her core.

This time she let it sit, resisting the urge to reach for it again.

Sensei's hand lifted from her head and she raised her gaze to him with a shaky smile. This was taking an awful lot of self control.

"I can imagine that you're intent on using your new quirk. Why don't you go with Kurogiri to the training room?"

Why wasn't she surprised that they had a training room? Actually, a training room implied that someone else had needed training. Who else was that inexperienced?

She watched, still caught between her buzzing thoughts and aching body, as Kurogiri turned away and began opening a portal. It took her a moment to process that this was her cue to follow and rushed to her feet with a start. She turned back to Sensei with a clumsy bow.

"Th-Thank you Sensei. I will not disappoint you!" Chisaki stumbled out.

He simply smiled and nodded, before she turned to chase after Kurogiri and jump through his portal.

She landed on the other side with an expectant look around.

Aggressive fluorescent lighting glared down at them, glinting off of the dark red leather padding that covered the floor and walls. A variety of weapons stood strapped to the long wall opposite her and a strange structure of hanging metal bars occupied the far left end of the room.

Kurogiri cleared his throat, pulling her attention back to him, and she snapped to follow him to the center of the room.

"Clearly you know how to activate your quirk, but you lack control. So, let's start with practicing a localized activation."

"A what?" She asked blankly.

Kurogiri sighed. "Your body dissolves as a part of your quirk. You should try using it on just one part of your body; say a hand or a finger."

"Oh." She said dumbly, eyeing her hand. How the hell was she supposed to make just her hand disappear? As far as she could tell this quirk only had an on and off switch. "Ok. I'll try to work with that."

He gave a nod for her to commence.

Shit. He actually wanted to watch? Well this was bound to be embarrassing.

Chisaki looked down at her hand for a moment, considering a method. Did she just need to think about it happening? Maybe if she just…

She reached for that heat in her chest and imagined it igniting in just the tip of one finger.

With a yelp of surprise she flinched back in shock. She had definitely not expected that.

Her whole arm had erupted into a formless cloud of black smoke, and it had swallowed everything up to her elbow.

When the surprise passed Chisaki stared at it for a moment, puzzled. It was a black wispy mass, not too unlike Kurogiri's warp gate material, but it looked lighter and more floaty. She watched as it shifted and moved with each motioned of what was left of her arm. It felt like there was something still there beneath the smoke, like it almost contained her arm.

Weird.

"Did it look like this when I went full body earlier?"

"Yes." Kurogiri answered matter of factly. "You became a big cloud of this."

A cloud? Of this? Why hadn't she noticed it?

Now that she thought about it, everything had changed color. Was that another side effect of this quirk?

Ugh, this was getting to be too much information for her to just keep in her head. She needed to write this in her journal.

It was now, of course, that she remembered that she was still wearing her backpack. She'd had it with her this whole time.

Chisaki slung it off over her shoulder and onto the ground. Thoughts swirled in her mind while she rummaged around one handedly for her singed notebook and a pencil.

Did that mean that all of her things had turned into smoke with her? Actually, hadn't her clothes also rematerialized when she did? Exactly what were the limitations to this quirk? What did it do?
Where had it even come from?

When Sensei'd explained his quirk a few days ago he'd said something about taking and giving quirks. So had this one belonged to someone else before? What happened to them?

That sent a shiver of dread down her spine.

She bit her lip and shook her head. Nope, that was too dark for now. She'd come back to that later.

Chisaki hauled out her notebook, sprawled it open on the floor, and bent over it with the pencil.

She began to write, scribbling in the neatest handwriting she could all that she understood.

1)This quirk dissolves body into smoke: uses unclear

2) It is possible to control how much of body affected: degree, speed, and uses unclear

3) Appears to allow for other items to be dissolved when activated: limitations unclear

4) I appear to be unable to breath while it is active on full body: this to be investigated, may indicate limitations of quirk, including duration, application, and flexibility.

5) …

What else did she know?... Not how to turn it off, that was for sure. She stared at her missing hand with a sigh. Well, she'd have to figure out how to do at least that today. She sure as hell couldn't head home like this.

"If you don't mind me asking…" Kurogiri began, politely interrupting her thoughts as he peered down at her notebook. "What are you doing exactly?"

Chisaki looked up from her notes for a moment, blinking in confusion. "I'm… recording my thoughts on my quirk…? I thought that in order to understand this quirk, I'd need to be able to keep a statement of my observations and analysis."

He raised an eyebrow and searched her face. "Analysis? Do you do this often?"

"Yes." She said, perking up. "I do it mostly on heroes. It's been a habit ever since I was little. I just love observing hero and villain fights and I've been doing it for as long as I can remember. Most of the time I take notes on what they do well, where they fall short, where they can improve, and what their weak points may be. I just think it's really fun and kind of useful. Especially since Hero's were these indomitable giants, I just wanted so badly to understand what made them great. I mean, if I was going to become a hero like them, I'd have to know those kinds of things right?" Her excited smile withered under a bitter thought. "But… I guess that that was pretty useless, wasn't it? Especially considering where we are now."

"Maybe…but, I think that it's commendable."

Commendable?

She let out a weak laugh in admission. "Thanks… I just, uh… I normally get the opposite reaction. I mean can you imagine a quirkless little geek chasing after heroes? What a pest right?" Her lips pressed into a hard line, her expression grim as she looked away in shame.

"What freaks have been telling you that worthless bullshit?" A new voice rasped out icily from behind her.

Chisaki straightened in surprise and twisted to look over her shoulder. She found Shigaraki glaring back at her. He was leaning against a doorway behind her with a frown twisted across his lips in bitter disapproval.

She pursed her own lips at the sight of him and looked away. "I don't know what you mean."

"Don't lie to me." He grumbled fiercely, stalking towards her with one dreadful hand pointed at her back in accusation. "Someone had to have done that to you, and I don't doubt for a second that they're the same incompetent shits that've been filling your head with all of that bullcrap!"

Chisaki stiffened and followed his gaze. He couldn't be talking about-

Her shirt had come untucked and, because of her sitting position, her lower back had been completely exposed to him; its blue, green, and purple hues on full display.

"What are you talking about?" Kurogiri said in confusion, until he'd circled around her far enough to catch a glimpse of the sight. She quickly twisted away in embarrassment. Realization lit across his face and Kurogiri's composure slipped into anger. "Who did this to you?"

"No one. It's none of your business!" Chisaki said, eyes on the floor as she wrapped her arms around herself. She felt oddly violated. They weren't supposed to have seen that.

"Why do you care anyways? It's just a few bruises. I mean it's nothing compared to killing people!"

"Since when are you okay with people getting tormented and tortured? Do you just draw the line at outright murder or something? 'Cuz here you are, justifying someone tormenting you over some fucking dream you want to pursue." Shigaraki accused, with a glare down his nose at her.

She flinched away. "N-no, that's not what I meant, I-."

"Yeah, I didn't think so." He snarled, before his lips twisted in a spiteful grin. He gave a snort. "You know, for all of your prattling on about justice and all of your hero bullshit, you're quite the hypocrite. I mean really? You? Be a hero? When you can't even save yourself? Yeah. I'm not surprised that you didn't get very far."

"-Shut up. This… this is different."

"Different? No. Its fucking not."

"Yes it is! I can't do anything against him!"

"Why the hell not? You almost shot me just a few days ago! This guy shouldn't be a problem for you!"

"There were very different circumstances to that!"

"So what? You're telling me that you're just going to sit and wait for this asshat to kill you before you to do anything? That sounds like a real good plan. Why don't you just kill him first if he's so dead set on hurting you?"

"I am not fucking killing Kachaan!" She barked at him, realizing now that she was hovering practically an inch from his face, glaring straight into his eyes.

When had she stood up? When had she gotten so close?

He just grinned at her, oddly smug at her overreaction. Chisaki blinked back at him for a moment and reigned herself in with a scowl.

"I'm not killing anyone." She said, looking away and folding in on herself nervously.

"Then do something else." He said rather directly. His voice was that odd slimy, gravelly, drawl that cut through her like a knife. His red eyes were drilling into her with a chilling ferocity. It was so unlike him that she couldn't react to his next words. "If we're going to wake this world from its delusion about heroes, I'm going to need you at your best… With no reservations, no hangups, and certainly no baggage. Killing or no killing, just do whatever you need to."

Then the look was gone and he slumped back into his usual slouch, turned on his heel with a sigh, and began his retreat to the dark hallway that he'd emerged from.

She watched after him with wide eyes, stunned to the spot as his words echoed in her ears.

He needed her. Did this mean that he officially didn't hate her? Then what about the competition they were going to have in a few months? That was still happening, right?

Well, they shared a goal; at least that was moderately reassuring.

She wasn't given much time to mull things over though, because Kurogiri immediately fixed her with his curious gaze.

"Do you want to tell me about this Kachaan person? I presume that thats a pet name… You obviously feel very strongly about him. Whats your history?"

He sounded earnestly concerned for her and Chisaki sputtered for an answer for a moment, completely caught off guard by the sudden request.

"I-Well…Yes." She sputtered nervously as she turned back to face him. "Um, he's someone that I've known for a very long time… Obviously, we don't have the best relationship."

"Yet you don't want to see him hurt?"

"No. Not really." She was picking self-consciously at her shirt sleeve. One of Bakugo's handprints was still vaguely singed onto the shoulder. "He's a vicious, self centered, egoistic, prick… but I… I don't hate him enough to want him dead. We've shared a dream since childhood, you know? We both wanted to be heroes. He just had the means and I didn't. So despite everything, I've always considered us friends, even if he doesn't seem to share that sentiment." Her hands drifted down to play with the hem of her skirt now, nerves sending them picking at stray threads as an excuse to avoid eyecontact. "So, I guess that I've never done much about him, because thats just how things have always been. I don't really mind it most of the time. I mean its scary, but he's bearable if I don't think about it too hard… "

Wait. She looked down at her hands in her lap. She had hands. Plural.

Kurogiri eyed her for a moment, waiting patiently for her to resume her explanation.

"Uh…How long has my hand been back?"

"A few minutes." He said frankly.

"And you didn't tell me?"

"My apologies. I thought you'd noticed."

"Ugh, its ok. Please, just let me know next time." He gave a nodd. She picked up her notebook in one hand, her pencil poised in the other. "Do you have any idea how long it was in smoke form for?"

"A little over five minutes." She noted that quickly. "Now, about your friend…" He began expectantly.

Chisaki paused in thought for a moment, before eventually snapping her book closed with a sigh. "Well, I don't think that I can do anything about him right this instant. We're complicated, so I'll have to think it over a little more." She chewed at her lip in worry as she began putting her things away and zipping up her backpack. She was suddenly feeling rather drained and her eyes lingered on her hands nervously for a moment. "Do you mind if we call it a day? Its kind of been a lot and I'm exhausted… I can come back— Well, not tomorrow. The next day."

"Sure." He said cordially. "Thursday it is."

"Great." Chisaki said with a smile of relief.

He began opening a portal wordlessly.

"Thank you, by the way." She said restlessly. "For listening to my rant and bearing with me."

"Of course." He said, dipping his head as he gestured to her exit. "I'll always be here for when you need me."

Chisaki eyed him for a moment, questions rising in her mind. For the first time it struck her that Kurogiri was much more than she'd initially taken him for. He was definitely not just some second in command with a penchant for bar tending. Even if he was a cold hearted villain, he was oddly accommodating and sweet.

"Thank you. I'll, uh, see you Thursday." She said simply with a smile.

"Yes." Was all he said before she disappeared.


AN: Ok guys, here you go. Thats it for June. (I say that, but I might just post again next week, since I'm so excited for the next chapter. You guys have no idea!)

Honestly the further I get into this fic, the more I realize how little structure there is to this mess, but I'm running with it.

So, since I don't know how to cover for my newb ass, I'm afraid that this is going to be the nature of most of the rest of the fic. Sorry if thats disappointing for some, but I'm not a professional, just a kiddo with a hobby.

Anyways, from one useless tangent to another, I literally can't wait to post the next chapter. I'm buzzing with excitement. Its my first time delving into something emotional and I'm curious to see how its received.

Thats all from me. Stay safe, take care of yourselves, and leave a comment if you feel like it; I'm always here for criticism and tips to improve.

Much love,
Option A